A School District's Profound Impact on Mental Health

Our children spend nearly one-third of their waking hours at school, presenting countless opportunities for positive interactions with trusted adults. In this episode of This Way Up, we discuss how the San Marcos Unified School District took this reality and turned it into an opportunity to dramatically expand mental health support for its students. Amid a growing mental health crisis and a mental health system struggling to keep up, the district—supported by the city of San Marcos —launched the 'Let's Face It Together' program.

The initiative strengthened existing resources like counselors and social workers, while introducing new support strategies such as a crisis text line (741741), Care Solace to assist families in navigating mental health care, and wellness teams that visit homes to connect with students and their families. By focusing on building a sense of connection and belonging, the program aims to make every student feel cared for.

This episode highlights the program’s profound impact, showing how a community came together to use school as not just a place of learning, but as a key source of support and care for students’ mental well-being.

BIO: 

As the Student Services Director in San Marcos Unified School District, Christi Frias is a dedicated advocate for mental health and student well-being. Throughout her career, she has worked tirelessly to create and implement programs and services that support student mental health and well-being. She is deeply passionate about promoting healthy and positive learning environments that foster student success. Mrs. Frias has experience working with a variety of stakeholders, including students, parents, faculty, and community members, to create meaningful change.

RESOURCES/ REFERENCES:

Let’s Face It Together: https://www.smusd.org/news/what_s_new/let_s_face_it__together_

Let’s Face It Together Resources: https://www.smusd.org/mentalhealth/teacherresources

Let’s Face It Together Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZISx4Y2cC8

Crisis Text Line 714714: https://www.crisistextline.org/

Care Solace: https://www.caresolace.org/

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(Note: For listeners who may be struggling with mental health issues or suicidal thoughts, please seek professional help or reach out to a mental health support helpline in your country.)

Transcript

A School District's Profound Impact on Mental Health

Hi, Christy. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. I am looking forward to this conversation like no other.

Oh, thank you for having me very excited for it

the San Marcos Unified School District put out a program called Let's Face It Together. Oh, I don't know what, like a year ago, two years ago. What was that?

years ago.

Wow. And I read about it and was just so inspired and thought people need to know about this. They need to know about it. What I would like to do though, before we get into what the program is, is I want to understand the background and why, you know, what was the inspiration to, to support it?

What were some of the trends that you were seeing that said, Hey, we need to take a more significant stance in all of this.

Yeah, no, for sure. I think, um, I mean, to start, the inception of this program really happened in the midst of the pandemic, and I think, you know, within the county, within the state, nationwide, worldwide, we saw headlines everywhere telling us that, you know, teens brains were aging faster due to the pandemic, and that there was an increase in children going to the emergency room with suicide ideations.

Um, and we saw that in San Marcos as well. And I think what the most alarming piece of that was, is we were seeing it at younger and younger ages. And so, while students having suicidal ideations prior to the pandemic was something that happened, we were seeing those numbers increase exponentially. And then, To add to that, because the whole world was in crisis, the infrastructure that was set up to support mental health was at capacity.

And so when students were needing support, when children were needing support, they were being placed on waiting lists that were 30, 60, 90 days long and not getting the support they need, needed. And when a When a child was placed on a hold for wanting to harm themselves, they were being released from the hospital without any support because practitioners couldn't get them in fast enough.

They had too many other kiddos to see. So, we saw this as a, as a huge, huge problem specifically within our district. We, we can only control what we can control

as a district. We said. You know, the county resources are tapped. What do we have currently within our own district and our own capacity that we can do to help our kids? And so that's kind of where this started And through those conversations and just talking with other partners We were able to link up with the city of San Marcos who happened to have ARPA funding that was COVID 19 funding.

They saw the need and they said hey, you know This has hit all of us You know, as well.

Everybody had a story. Everybody knew somebody who either themselves or their child had gone through this. And so I think I think the timing was right and they were able to give us a 2 million grant to really get this going.

Um, and that really helped propel all of this forward. So that was kind of how it started.

And it was having those conversations with different educational partners. Um, and when lightning strikes, it strikes and it happened to be The perfect timing with the city of San Marcos, so that they could come on board with us and supply the grant that helped us really move this forward.

Wow. That is a great partnership between the city and the, and the district. Wow.

Yeah. Amazing.

That, I mean, you hear 2 million and in school budget terms, that's a lot of money, a lot of money. Um, so I, I would be interested to see how other districts are able to do things that maybe don't have that same financial support that you guys had, but that's, that's was a gift.

Absolutely. 

a little bit about the program. What is it? And, and maybe even what the district supplies outside of the, um, program for support with mental health. I don't think a lot of parents know exactly what they can get from their schools and school districts in their area.

Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, across across all districts. There's different types of supports here in San Marcos. We're super lucky. We have counselors and social workers at school sites. Um, and then we also have school psychologists, all of whom are mental health practitioners and depending on the level of elementary, middle or high depends on, you know, which practitioners are at which level.

So that was something that was already existing. Um, San Marcos prior to the pandemic had definitely prioritized whole child education and learning. And then that was just, you know, obviously further underscored with the impact of the pandemic. Um, and so those were things that were preexisting. But with that, counselors have certain types of trainings, social workers have certain types of training, psychs, uh, school psychologists have certain types of training.

So really making sure that, um, we were streamlining what support looked like across the district, that was also a goal of ours even prior to Let's Face It Together. Let's Face It Together really gave us the opportunity to, as a district, come together and say, You're not alone and to really message that out.

So that funding that we got, we knew it was one time funds. We only had it for the two years. And so we really wanted to be intentional about what we set up. So that should funding completely go away. The actual program remained so investing in the current practitioners We had the counselors the social workers the school psychologists our nurses Um was equally as important because they were going to be the folks that were going to help continue the work long after the funding Was gone. So with let's face it together the campaign itself was a huge piece of it So bringing in the city of san marcos Um, they brought in their marketing and PR firm for us, JPW Communications, which is something that most districts are never going to get to have access to, and so that's why, like, this amazing logo was created by them, and if you come out to our school sites, there is messaging all over our school sites, from posters to wall clings, um, and it's all very positive, uplifting messages, just basically telling kiddos, you're not alone.

And we can face it together. One of the things that I love is in one of our brainstorming meetings, we were talking about where do kids need to see this? And at the time, most kids are, you know, as they're walking through hallways, especially at the high school, we all know they're on their phone, so they're looking down.

The idea was we have them on the floors

as well. And 

brilliant.

it's super great when you go to Mission Hills or San Marcos High School or Twin Oaks High School and they're on in the walkways and seeing, seeing those pieces, um, because it's what the kids need. We wanted to make sure that it was very student focused. And so that at like the, the very basic broad level was this campaign so that everybody knew there were trusted adults in every space and it didn't have to be a counselor. It didn't have to be. The psychologist, but those were our mental health professionals, but it could be the cafeteria worker custodian.

It could be your teacher. It could be any of the number of folks. We have on our campuses. We care about you,

and so, and we're here for you. So that was the big piece of, like, the messaging. Um. The next level of support we call like our tier two level of support through let's face it, and this is where funding really helped us is partnerships with some external agencies.

So the crisis text line, which is a national text line. We were actually able to reach out and say, we know this is a resource. But could we have a partnership with you all, where if students were to message SMUSD, San Marcos Unified School District, instead of just hello, we could actually get some data back about how many kids are actually utilizing this resource.

So we paid a small fee for that. Um, and it's, it's only a couple hundred dollars a year, which is wonderful because that's something that's sustainable. Um, and we're able to get information from them. We don't know exactly what the messages are because it's confidential,

but we're able to see, is this resource being utilized?

Are kids using this? And it provides 24 seven access to support. So they don't have to wait to come back to school the next day to get help.

So let's take a step back real quick. I'm, I want to make sure that I understand and the listeners understand there is a resource out there, a text resource that anybody can use. And then you've got your subset, which is for San Marcos, which is amazing to be able to get that data back. But what happens from the child's perspective when they text into that?

What are they, what are they texting? Um, What are reasons that they're texting? What can they expect to get back? All of those kind of things.

And before I forget, the, the resource is 741741. That's a national text crisis text line. It can be used by anyone. Um, and so it can be something as simple as I'm having a bad day and I need somebody to talk to, talk through, talk to, it can be, I want to hurt myself. And I'm reaching out, um, what we found actually just through some of the different research we did with kids and we were talking to them about, you know, how the, how the program was going, students are using the 741 741 to find out how to help their friends. So when they have a friend who is, who they feel is struggling with depression or anxiety, they're texting 741 741 and saying, my friend told me these things, what, what should I do? How can I help them?

And 

amazing.

we didn't even think could happen. And it was just this wonderful result of this and the amazing, just, it just goes to show you how kids are so innovative

and for something completely different, but they're utilizing that resource to be able to help their friends.

And so that I think when they do these messages, they get a live person that is communicating with them. And if at any point it seems that there's an eminent risk or eminent threat, the person on the other side of the crisis text line, um, contacts local law enforcement and they're able

to drill down to where the location is of the phone that's texting and things like that.

So, um, You know, in the event that it is very critical, emergency resources are sent out. However, most of the time, it is more, students just need somebody to talk to. This

And it's open for any, any type of discussion of, or around. That's, that's great. That's great. And is it only text or do they, can they, Engage, um, vocally with somebody as well.

one is just text. There's

several different crisis lines, um, out there. This is the one we, we partnered with simply because for our students, they, they let us know that text was there.

And

communicating.

anybody who's raised a teenager in the last decade knows that texting is like the key to getting their attention. So that's fantastic. That's fantastic. So, okay. And then, um, just to clarify. Everything that's sent through though is, is confidential.

100 percent confidential.

And that was something. Yeah, that was something we saw, too. When we first started looking at the data, we saw that the crisis text line wasn't being utilized that often.

And so, of course, us as adults were like, oh, we must not have been, you know, getting the word out there enough.

We should do more posters. We should do more messaging. But then we pulled in some students to talk to them and asked, and they said, well, we don't believe that you're not going to know what we say.

And we went, okay, so we need to really hone in on this is 100 percent confidential. And I think for parents, it's important and guardians to know that, yes, it's confidential to a point, but when a student is critically in need, 100 percent services are sent out.

So it is not just, it's confidential 100 percent of the time. It is confidential when kids need support, but the moment we believe, or the crisis text line folks believe that there is an imminent threat, they do respond.

Sure. That, and that's nice to know as a parent as well. Right. So then you get the information back and you start seeing that it's, um, that this, the, that it's being used. Do you do anything else with that information?

It's really more about, um, cause we, all we get is a number. We don't get, you know, the, the age of the student, we don't get any of that information. And I think, you know, blessing and a curse. It's good because that helps students, um, use it

Right. Right.

for us. It's, you know, it's very general information. And I think more than anything, it just tells us, even if it's only 20 kids right in a few months, that's 20 kids that needed that help and maybe wouldn't have had it otherwise.

That's absolutely right. That's absolutely right. And, and that's 20 other kids who may have told somebody else that they could use it as well in the future. I mean, quite frankly, if it's only 20 kids, that might be a blessing in and of itself. It means it may, hopefully they're feeling a little bit 

Yeah, absolutely.

What other services? Okay. So we've got that in the text. Go ahead. Sorry. I,

Oh, of course. So the other one is care solace, which is kind of like they, they brand themselves as a concierge service. So this was a contract, um, that we were able to get into, um, care solace. As I said, when parents were trying to call or families were trying to call to get, um, appointments for their students to get mental health support, they're on these waiting lists.

And if you've dealt with insurance or you've ever had to call the doctor's office and you're sitting on hold, it, it almost becomes. It's overwhelming, and then you give up. And so

that's what's happening with a lot of families. Care Solace takes that away. So basically, when a referral goes into Care Solace, their people are the ones who make the calls for you.

So they'll make 30, 60, 90 calls to get an appointment for you based on whatever the needs are, and they guarantee that within two weeks.

So that was a game changer. So, and, and so that was huge because families, so on our district website, there's a link and it's not just for our students, it's for our students and their families.

It's also for our staff and their families. And they can go on and they can either do a referral themselves and then Care Solace will just start. Trying to find them, the appropriate provider, or there's an anonymous search and they can look for providers who offer, um, the service that they need. But in addition to that, our counselors, our social work, any of our school staff who are trained can do a referral for a family. So if we have a student who is experiencing anxiety, depression, any of the things, we can sit down with the family and say, this is a resource. Would you like us to put this referral in for you? And then as a school, we continue to follow up. Um, to make sure that that referral was processed. And then the other piece that Care Solace does is they follow up with the family after the first appointment to make sure it went well.

Did you feel good about this provider? Did you want somebody else?

Um, 

incredible.

So it's that's been a huge, huge resource for us. Um, and something that we, that our district has committed to maintain simply because we know it's, it's a huge need.

Well, in parenting a child that has any type of mental health struggle, whether it's chronic or just temporary, can be so overwhelming, 

Yeah. 

terrifying, and the system is so convoluted. You don't know where to go. Like you said, it's plugged up. I mean, wait lists are incredible. That is a great resource.

Yeah. And I think in addition, it doesn't matter what insurance you have. It doesn't matter if you don't have insurance, they have the resources regardless. So they'll get that information. Um, and to your point, When we started this, um, this entire initiative and really talked through it, the adults in the rooms, exactly what you just said.

We echoed that sentiment of you can have all the resources in the world and you can be the most educated person. And when it's your child that is at risk or your child, who's hurting, you just can't, you need an adult yourself,

some walk you through the next steps. And so knowing that, and then knowing that some of our families, Don't have those resources or don't know where the next step is. What about for them and their, and their kiddos? So this was something that really met the needs of everyone across, across the spectrum.

That's amazing. That's a wonderful resource. Okay. So we've got that.

And then

Already I'm sold. I'm like,

it's been incredible. I mean, it really has. And I think, um, I think even for staff, it's been incredible because

we talk a lot about students and you know, the people that are in the room with our kids, they struggled too. And so them having access to those supports was really important as well. And the nice thing with Care Solace is they offer in person appointments, but they also offer virtual appointments. So for families that are working parents, and I can't get, I can't get my student to that appointment. There's a virtual option. So they make it really, really, um, they make it really easy to access the help,

Yeah.

which is great. Um, the final, the final piece of the Let's Face It Together program was wellness teams and that site level support. So this was something that, um, for those not familiar, PIRT, the Psychological Emergency response team is a county resource. They partner with the Sheriff's Department. So when a student is at imminent risk of hurting themself or somebody else, um, PERC comes out and does an evaluation.

And it's typically done with a mental health clinician and a sheriff's deputy, um, because if the student needs to be placed on a hold, they are typically, um, taken in by a sheriff's deputy. to the hospital to get the help that they need. Uh, PERT was completely inundated with calls for service during this time. And so we really thought about Ideally, what would we want for our kiddos that are at home that are experiencing mental health emergencies and how can we better assist them? Um, and so the wellness team is kind of where, where we landed. And so our wellness team was comprised or is comprised of two different positions. One is a school based mental health clinician, and so that's either a social worker counselor or school psychologist. And then the other person is a family and community engagement liaison. And so as a pair, they're a team. And when we know we have a student that's struggling, they actually go out to the home. And the clinician is there to really talk through with the kiddo, um, is this an emergency? Is this more just. You know, school avoidance. Is this anxiety? Were they being bullied? What are the pieces that are keeping us from coming back to access our education at school? The Family and Community Engagement Liaison is there to really help the parent. And so, just like as I just referenced, when you have a child who's struggling, the parent's struggling, the guardian's struggling.

And so, they are there to help, you know, is this housing insecurity? Is there domestic violence? Um, are, you know, what are the other pieces of this that The parent needs assistance with so that they can better support their child. And all of this is done so that we can connect that student and family back to the school site where they have on campus support. So going out to the home was really important because for some of our families, they just, they didn't even know where to access the help and the care. So going out and being able to give that information.

And then for those kiddos that were really struggling saying, you know, I'm going to go with you. I'm going to be there on your first day back at school. We're going to walk to class together. You need me to stay? I'll stay.

And providing that for them and then introducing them to their support people on campus so that every day they show up they have those trusted adults and then following up, um, with those families and those kiddos. So, you know, we initially, when we, when we. Thought about this thought it would be kind of a handful of kids that we're going to need this type of support. And what we saw is it was a lot larger than that.

Really?

And so, yeah, so we had six teams initially, um, who. were regionalized throughout the district. Um, and they worked with specific school sites so that they got to know their communities and their support providers on campus best. Um, and then they kind of, they stayed with those families throughout the entire year to

really help make sure that they were reconnected back. Um, cause for some of these kiddos, it wasn't the first year that they weren't going to school. This was something that had been going on for years, where they just struggled to get there and they needed a lot more than just a one time visit. You know, some families don't have housing, um, and so they need additional resources, uh, and so there was just, there was a lot more to it. Um, when the funding ended, um, you know, unfortunately we weren't able to maintain six teams, so we still have three. Um, and they really focus on looking at those students who are chronically absent

and going out because attendance is a symptom.

It's a symptom of something else larger, so going out and really working with the families again to get them back to the school site, so that then the school resources can kind of, um, take over and implement all of the different offerings we have at school, so whether that be they need a modified schedule, whether that be they need counseling services on campus. Maybe they need to have lunch somewhere in a quiet space because the school is just too big and that's overwhelming. Um, so just all of the different things that maybe we don't think about day to day. Once the kids trust us. They're really good about telling us what they need.

Now, are the, and this is available to kids as young as kindergarten

As young as transitional kindergarten. Four years

old. Yeah. 

Oh, right. We didn't have transitional kindergarten when I was there, but wow. And then all the way through high school.

Yep. High school and beyond. Yep. We still have students that in our adult transition program who are with us until I think about 24. And those are students with exceptional needs. And so when their families need additional support, we assist there too.

Wow. Wow. And you know, I think we know that school is such a huge component for a child. I mean, it's like, it's like going to work, right. And for a family that's having a child that's struggling to get to school has, you know, so many impacts on their life. over and above just even getting to school, right?

You know, I mean the parents have to then sacrifice their two working parents there. Somebody's got to help with that. The child's not getting socialized. They're not getting educated. They're, you know, and then I know that the more that you, uh, encourage or not encourage, I shouldn't say encourage the more that you give into some of those anxious thoughts, the worse and worse it gets.

And then it becomes a real big, a real big issue.

Absolutely, absolutely. And so getting them back on campus and finding those things that are going to help them feel connected, it's a huge initiative. I mean, not even initiative, it's our goal in San Marcos. And it has been for the last few years is connection and belonging. So academics is a hundred percent, you know, we all know like, that's what kids come to school for, but they also come to school.

To belong.

And so that's going to look different for every child. So for some being an ASB, that's going to be their thing. For others, it's going to be banned. For others, it's going to be, you know, um, our CTE pathways. But some of our kiddos just, they're so overwhelmed with their own, you know, anxieties or their own negative thoughts.

They don't even know where to start. And so having somebody that can really take the time to walk through that with them to, what are you good at? What do you like? Let's find something for you so that you want to come to school.

And let's prioritize that for you so that, again, maybe you don't come five days a week, but you were coming zero.

So if we can get you here three a week, that's a win.

is a win. Yeah.

those small wins and, and just knowing everybody's on their own journey and letting them know, but we're, we're walking with them. We're doing it together. And I think that's really at the, at the heart of the entire program. Not just for our kids, but for our families that they are not alone.

We are got their back We're doing it together and their individual needs matter

You know, this whole individual thing is, is a foreign concept for some of us that are older. Right? Like I, we went to high school, there was like five clubs. Right. And you had a lot of kids that, um, were probably missed, right? You did. They were, they weren't present. Even if they were there, they weren't present.

They weren't connected. Now these kids have an opportunity, especially moving into, to high school where the high schools are so big and can feel. Very intimidating. There is a home for most of them, but it's navigating that and finding it, um, for, for those kids. That's, that's great. So, what successes have you had?

I mean, I can only imagine that there's just a thousand successes, but what are some really things that you're proud of that, that have stood out?

one of the one of the things that happened early on in the during the program is you know We have school resource officers that are sheriff's deputies, but they work specifically with our schools And so for a lot of our kiddos, they see those those People as the enforcers, if you will, right? They're only there when I get in trouble and that's really not what they're there for.

I mean, they are there to be a resource to our kiddos and the community. Um, and so when we started the program, we got, um, buttons for them that said, let's face it together, that have the same logo that was all over the school sites. One of them was one of the SROs was working overtime on a weekend and he had his, his pin on, and he was just in one of the local convenience stores and a Kid walked up to him and pointed at the pin and said, why are you wearing that? And he said, oh, you know, I work for the district and he kind of explained it. He goes, they have that at my school. I've seen that. And so it started this beautiful conversation between the two of them. And this is a kid. So, um, I was talking to a student in our community who typically would not speak to law enforcement, who typically would have been fearful of law enforcement and in the community that he lives in, you know, law enforcement is seen as not a great thing.

And so we saw that as kind of it automatically opened the door

into conversation that wouldn't have happened before. But because this student knew what it was from being at school and then saw it and recognized it. Instant connection.

So that was a small one from the very beginning, but we love it because it shows that messaging pattern.

And It was worth doing that at the school sites, and it was worth making sure that all of our partners have the same type, um, logos on them so that students knew. Because sometimes these law enforcement officers are the ones that are going out in the middle of the night when bad things happen. And when they, when the kids can recognize on them, like, oh, I know that sign. That's familiar to me. And I know I can trust you

sometimes it takes that level of anxiety down. So that was a huge win. One of our biggest wins is we have a student, she graduated last year and, um, she was in, and she's, she's spoken about this very openly, so I'm allowed to share it.

But she was in the foster system for most of her life. And, um, she. She went to Mission Hills High School, and when she got there, she tells the story of she was just so angry, and she hated everybody, and she didn't want to be there, and she made sure everybody knew it. And so she was constantly trying to get in trouble, and constantly trying to get booted out so she could go back to her foster home. And the people there just kept trying. And they just kept trying to find ways to connect with her and let her know they weren't going anywhere. And so she got up and she gave several talks last year to talk about, for the first time in my life, I had a home and it was at my school and

that, and she credits her success and graduation and she's living on her own now and all of those things, and she says, I couldn't have done it without the trusted adults I had, and I couldn't have done it without the help of people who believe in let's face it together.

And so. Those are the types of stories like that. That's a huge win for us when a kiddo can say my whole life. I was looking for a home

and I, so

I think I want your job.

I don't think you do. This is, yeah,

a difference though that you and your team, I know it's not just you, it's you and your team and the city have been able to give this community what, I mean, that's, so I know that we're talking about it from, you know, the city of San Marcos and San Marcos Unified School District. Do you know of other programs like this that are outside of this that, um, you know, outside of your little community that are happening elsewhere or have other districts to come to you and asked about the program to expand it?

we've actually, we were able to present it quite a few places last year on the program. So, down here in the county, and then we actually got to present up in Sacramento as well. And so a lot of people have reached out. Um, just to kind of find out like how we structured it and the ways that we've monitored it and what data tools do we use.

And so I think, you know, our big, our big piece when we talk to other districts is look at what you currently have and leverage the partnerships you have. Um, so we haven't seen anybody necessarily take this and run with it, but I think other folks are really looking at. Can they take pieces of it

and can they implement it within their districts? Um, you know, we're always open to those conversations. We love talking to folks about what they can do to better support their communities because Education is, is, it's all encompassing and it has changed a lot post pandemic. Um, but when we think of whole child education, I think oftentimes we forget about those partnerships outside of our districts.

And for us, the city of San Marcos was a critical partner for us. So at that not happened, we may not be able, been able to have the success that we currently have right now. And then partnerships like Care Solace and the crisis text line, but really looking at what do you currently have in place and what's out there and what works for you.

So we had been having these conversations. And like I said, when lightning strikes, it strikes because sometimes somebody will remember three months down the line, I remember somebody saying they really needed support with mental health. We now have this funding. Let's go back and help them. And that's our encouragement to everybody is don't stop. Don't stop asking. Don't stop talking about it. Just keep telling folks that this is a priority for you and the right partners are going to come. Mm

Well, and you, you mentioned it several times throughout this conversation is that you've, they've got existing resources. And I think messaging is such a huge piece in that and that parents, a lot of parents don't know what's hidden behind those school walls that can help them. And so even if it's not a big, fantastic program, like let's face it now, there are still resources out there that are free and are available to all parents.

Um, any child that's going through a school, uh, you know, going through at least public schools.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, like I said, counselors, social workers, school psychologists, but even a lot of our nurses, um, our nurses, I oversee our health services team as well. And many of them have now attended, um, trainings at the county level for, um, mental health first aid so that they know better how to help when students are coming in.

And maybe what looks like a stomach ache. Is it just a stomach ache? Maybe that's really anxiety. And so we've been able to really do a lot of training within our teams to help. So when a student comes into the health office with a stomach ache that really looks more like anxiety, calling the counselor or the social worker in for that partnership and vice versa.

And then in addition to that, you know, we have campus supervisors and new duty supervisors who are out there on the playgrounds and in the hallways. Thank you They see things a lot of the times that maybe the other folks don't,

and so we've really prioritized making sure they have training. And so we've had trainings for them on how the brain works and, you know, why students behave certain ways. And this year we had a mental health 101 training for them, that if they encounter a student who seems to be in the midst of a mental health emergency, what should they do? Because I think ultimately, you know, I was an English teacher. I wasn't a social worker. Um, But sometimes we're called to do things beyond what our credentials told us we were coming in for, right?

Like,

sometimes I'm a mom in a classroom, you know, because they just need that momming at that point. Sometimes you're the therapist, you know, the unofficial therapist that's just listening to what happened over the weekend. And sometimes you're the English teacher. But I think everybody wants to do it right.

Some folks want to make sure they don't say the wrong thing. So making sure we provided those resources that you don't have to have all the answers. Every adult on our campus, you don't have to have all the answers. You just need to be a kind, welcoming space and know where to get the answer. So know that when that child is struggling, you know what?

I am so sorry you're going through that. Why don't you come with me? I know exactly who we can go to. I'll take you there.

And then walking with that child. So just arming all of our staff, regardless of, and I think that can be said for any district. In any place, making sure that staff and staff themselves know the resources and that parents to your point know the resources

that I may not know what to do, but I know where to go.

Right. 

And 

I want you to feel comfortable enough as a child. I want that relationship that you trust me enough to allow me to take you to where we can get you some help.

yes, absolutely.

Well, I know that it's only three years in the making. I'm excited to see what other impacts it makes, um, as it, as it continues to flourish.

I, Just a beautiful gift for the, for the, uh, parents and kids of San Marcos. Christy, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you so much for having me.